smashing girl stereotypes into tiny smithereens

Because Vegas…

Sporting the new shades!

This morning I went to clean off my sunglasses from this past weekend in Vegas, where I met 68 new friends, and decided to just leave the chlorine droplets, greasy finger prints and cigarette tinge because it reminds me of all the adventures and fun I had being in Sin City for the first time with some of the coolest and most genuine people I have met! And breathe.

So this post is going to have a bit of a personal spin, but its fun to open up every now and again right? Right. This is my first trip and last trip with Bloggers in Sin City as this will be the fifth and final time it will ever happen. I admit it makes my heart hurt a bit, but also I’m so happy I took the plunge and just went for it! ALL of it.
Luckily, prior to the trip I was fortunate to meet up with Nicole, the ultra rad creator of this fantastical weekend and other bloggers who came in town for the Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon in March and another time I met up with the DMV bloggers to do what we do best, a boozy brunch. Meeting up with a few of my Internet friends in person gave me peace of mind and my mother the opportunity to realize that I wasn’t crazy and that yes these people I’ve “known” online are actually IRL (in real life) individuals.

ALL the reflecting:

Mixing at Serendipity3

Upon arrival I was hella nervous because many of the people had been there for almost an entire 24 hours together and had all the 8-second hugs (hugs bond people, fact.) I had missed out. I awkwardly showed up with all my things to the registration room and what I was not prepared for was many of these larger-than-life personalities online would in real life be introverted and you know what, they were freaking normal. Well at least for a few more hours because in those hours of eating Serendipity3 savory treats, staring contests, more 8-second hugs, pineapple mango mojitos and uncontrollable laughter we became friends.
Friends that in the next few days would dance at Margaritaville, sing Disney in the middle of the casino, play in waterfalls at the pool, nap, sightsee, frolick and be VIPs who sport white clothing down the strip leading to comments like:
a. “That’s the biggest wedding party I’ve ever seen.”
b. “Are they all getting married?” #sisterwives
c. “What is happening right now?”

Wicked White Party Classiness.

Until this weekend I would have labeled myself a shy person in new situations with practically strangers, but I found that when put in said position I somehow naturally become an extrovert, maybe my way of coping with a new situation is just putting myself out there, squashing the nervousness and embracing the present moment. This is a forever fabulous observation and I often throughout the trip found myself sitting, hanging, eating, drinking, lounging and just gallivanting all over the place with every and all BiSC-uits because I wanted to be friends with EVERYONE. Because VEGAS.

My Days in Vegas Told in List Form

Day One: Swag, Roller Coaster, Swanky Rooms, Serendipity 3, Staring Contests and 8-second hugs
• Met up with Germana and Laura Bond at the airport, taxied over to the Flamingo, our home for the next few days.
• Hit up the Reno registration room eating sweets, PopChips, and grabbing our Vega swag bags full of samples, custom Moo Cards, Stack Wines, Firmoo shades, which by the way I’m mildly obsessed with, HTC hydration bottles and oh so much more! Also I met my roomie for the week, Laura Smart. She’s a doll and a gem! And I heart her. Aye.

Swag-tastic

• Checked in to our ultra swanky Flamingo “Go” room with plush beds which I didn’t spend a lot of time in because…Vegas. There was white shiny vinyl headboards, overhead lighting and a TV, a TV, in the bathroom mirror. Something also super convenient about these rooms? The drapes opened (and closed) with the flick of the switch making getting up in the morning a bit easier.
• After I dropped my stuff it was time to get the fun started and what better way than to take a walk down the strip, see the sights and ride the NYNY Roller Coaster. I screamed, laughed, cursed and waved to Lady Liberty as the coaster looped and corkscrewed for a total of about 3 minutes. It was a blast and made for great pictures at the end to which we couldn’t figure out where Larissa’s head went? Maybe she was just riding low in that coaster seat like a G. Also pretty sure Amanda, Jen and I had bruises on our shoulders from being bumped around. Ouch. But was it worth it? Um…of course!
• Fun fact: You can’t just walk straight down the strip there are sky walks and stairs/escalators which moreorless force you to go inside the casinos to which you will never come out because they are indeed labyrinths. You will stay forever and spend all of your dollhairs.
• A Nathan’s hotdog and a Blue Moon beer happened.
• Serendipity3 Mixer in all of its shiny, savory, sweet glory!

BiSC tattoos

• Staring contests, pineapple mojitos, shots of frozen hot chocolate. Larissa won the bracket-styled staring contest and took home a HTC prize after she stared down the competition, Dominique and Kitty. Get it girl!
• Next Bellagio Fountains, except Fail. We waited. And waited. But due to the “high winds” it was suspended for the evening. Sad face.
• Fear not booze is here and so are Casey’s and Raoul’s dance moves! To Margaritaville we went.

Pool Cool Kids!

Day two: French Brunching, Rigo the bartender, and “O” so much more
• Went to brunch at Mon Abi Gabi at the Paris hotel. Fancy shmancy eggs benedict, coffee, bloody mary and water all filled up my body. Best part besides the people I was with was the VIP patio table we had right on the strip and the stellar weather that existed. Pretty damn magical!
• Flamingo pool with reserved fluffy beds to lounge on, stellar conversation and drinks made by Rigo who sported Casual Bob’s bowtie all day and made me the drink he thought I should have. I also drank out of a huge pink cup with a lid that unfortunately I had to leave behind.
• Shower and buffet at Spice World Market located at Planet Hollywood. So much deliciousness but I am proud that I did not eat too much when there is endless options! Also maybe it was my liquid lunch?!? Whoops.
• Eleventy hundred cupcakes
• Tiger snooze
• Severe dry eyes from tiger snoozing

Getting Shady :)

• Cirque de Soleil “O” show. Words cannot describe the skill and amazement that went into creating this show from both the artists, technical producers, musicians. Just wow! The stage went from being shallow water to 17 feet deep to allow performers to rocket launch themselves do fifteenteen flips, freeze mid air in a pose and directly dive into the watery abyss. Impressive.
Also impressive the girls on the trapezes. One balanced on her head. On her head you guys!!! Girls with red body suits that had zero spines and contorted their bodies and held each other in poses. Soo soo cool and pretty sure defies the laws of gravity also anatomy because they were real life Gumbies. Gumbi?
• Monte Carlo bar complete with “free” drinks, epileptic seizure prone party lights, and an “ass” playlist
• 7 foot tall man
• Rare Bourbon at Cosmo
• Chandeliers also at Cosmo
• Trekked back in time so my swollen feet didn’t combust.

Day three: Fremont St, Neon, “White People”, The Act
• Do what ever you damn well please time
• Fremont St a.k.a. old Vegas, note to self go back at night time for the full experience
• Cheap souvenirs

Letters collected around the Neon Museum to create this BiSC collage.

• VEGASPANTS
• Neon museum where the old Vegas signs go to die in the desert
• Portraits with the amazing Erin!
• Huge group went to Whiskey Attic! I didn’t go but I heard amazing things from everyone who went!
• Buffet at Paris
• Napperton
• Wicked White Party Happy Hour at Center Cut Steakhouse in the Flamingo, we had the outer bar area where a few people walking by took our photos. We all looked so fabulous! So fresh.
• Parade of “white people” down the strip, all 68 of us. We were quite the spectacle
• Line cutting at PURE
• Rooftop sitting
• Gaping at the view on said rooftop with classy beverage in hand
• Dancing to robot music
• Dancing to swaggy music down stairs

Rooftop view of white clad party people (us) and skyline.

• Just dancing
• Disney casino singing “I want to be where the people are!”
• Applause
• Surfing down the people movers as we made our way to Venetian to continue the party at The Act
• Lots of inappropriate Vegasy things
• Stage dancing

Day Four: Farewell Brunch and Life List Day
• Four-hour Farewell brunch
• ALL the feelings
• In & Out burger animal style
• Jumping at Welcome to Las Vegas sign

Nom Nom Nom

• Forum Shops, Fresh Sugar SPF amazingness lip balm
• Numb feet
• Jen being awesome and allowing Laura and I to change in her room for the show since Palms was so far away from Caesars, where the concert would be taking place. BiSC people rock my socks so hard.
• Numb drinks, aka frozen Colada with two shots of pineapple rum please and thank you
• SHANIA TWAIN Concert time!!!
Our seats were on the 1st mezz in the front row. So awesome!
She played all her classic hits Who’s Bed Have Your Boots Been Under, Woman in me, Up!, That Don’t Impress Me Much, and Man, I Feel Like a Woman as the closing number.

SHANIA!!! IT HAPPENED!

There was also a ton of crowd participation! She went through the audience several times stopping to hug and high five fans. She even brought some folks up on stage during the camp fire segment. Makes me wish we paid for those lower seats just for that chance! dang! Dancer nerd alert: I recognized Adrian Lee a dancer from So You Think You Can Dance, who was performing with Shania so I tweeted at him and he replied back! Awesome. Hey boo!
• Refill of Numb Colada
• FINALLY Bellagio fountains, twice. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Elton John. Kind of wish I saw the ‘Murica song one though since some were talking about how great it was hahaha.

Bellagio fountains!!!

• Retrieve bags for the last time at the Bell desk in the Flamingo before cruising to the Palms for the night.
Last morning: Gambling, See ya cashflow, and cloudy head
• Sex in the City and Wheel of Fortune slots
• $60 gone in 30 minutes
• Nutritious breakfast—McDonald’s
• Airport loneliness
• Caramel Macchiato
• Cloudy head
• Writing this post with eyes welling up. Cut it out!
I absolutely loved this weekend and I can’t wait to go all over the place and visit my friends!!! Yes BiSC just yes because VEGAS HAPPENED.

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18 thoughts on “Because Vegas…”

First of all, I TOTALLY did not realize the Flamingo blinds opened that easily. In fact, I struggled really hard with them! I ended up taking them partly off the hooks just to get a little Vegas sunlight. Ooooops.

This is such an awesome recap!! I wish I’d taken better notes about what I did each day but this is so great to look back on. Also I am SO glad that I got to know you in Vegas and I can’t wait to hang out IRL (which apparently means in real life. I feel cooler for knowing that now). I’m also so glad you convinced me to go to the sign bc I didn’t know that was even a thing? And finally also MY SHOULDERS STILL HURT!

My shoulder still hurts too!!!! Also, I LOVE this recap – so much awesomness happening. I’m glad Shania was all you hoped, and that you managed to FINALLY see the fountains at night! I heart you so much! Exclamations Exclamations!!

Karlyn, thanks for being amazing the entire time and cracking jokes + having great conversations with me! Your recap is awesome — I kind of envy the ability to compartmentalize it all into bullet point format, but my brain is like NO EXPLAIN EVERYTHING DO IT NOW DON’T STOP WRITING WHAT ARE YOU DOING???

But yes, your blog, the weekend, and most importantly YOU are all full of the awesome

Hey lady! It was awesome to meet you and glad we were able to share a cab together and have adventure time in old Vegas and Neon Museum. I’m glad u live on the east coast, i need to have a BiSC-uit reunion soon, I’m still so sad it’s all over. You’re an amazing lady, and i love the name of you blog. Hope to see you again real soon

Mirror Mirror on the Wall, It’s Just Karlyn After All!

By day, a communications coordinator. By night, a dance teacher. In between? A twentysomething woman concerned about how the media & everyday life portrays females, and more importantly, how those portrayals affect young girls.